2017 UTV World Championship
Contingency Preview
Laughlin, NV (4/13/2017) - The
2017 Polaris RZR UTV World Championship powered
by Monster Energy continues unprecedented growth
as it kicks off its race weekend with Contingency
Day this Friday. With over 250 entries confirmed
for the weekend of desert and short course UTV
racing, the race is quickly becoming the largest
and most prestigious event in off-road racing.
“Joey D.” DiGiovanni, CEO and founder of UTV
Underground, is excited to see the growth the
event has seen since its first showing in 2015.
With one of the richest purses on the Best in
the Desert Calendar, as well as giveaways, and
Polaris RZRs being awarded to some of the top
finishers, the event is attracting the top UTV
racers in the country, as well as a huge group
of fans and enthusiasts.
“The number of entries is insane,” said DiGiovanni.
“Last year, we ended up with 213 UTVs. This year,
we’re already at 250 UTVs with over 500 racers.
This event is bigger than the Baja 500 and we’ll
have more entries than the Baja 1000. We’re pushing
the entry list of the Mint 400. This is up there
with some of the biggest races in all of off road.”
Five Class winners will win brand new Polaris
RZRs as part of their earnings: Turbo Class Desert,
1000 Class Desert, Overall Short Course, as well
as Youth 170 and Unlimited 250.
“This year, Polaris and UTV Underground stepped
up and we’re giving away five Polaris RZRs,” said
DiGiovanni. “It just adds a little more glitz
and glamour to the event and helps attract the
biggest and the best UTV racers in the sport.”
Speaking of free Polaris RZRs, one lucky fan
will win a brand new $60,000 Polaris RZR customized
by 4 Wheel Parts/UTV Underground Garage, Method
Race Wheels and Tensor Tires. Entries to win the
RZR started coming in at last year’s Sand Sports
Super Show, when the RZR was unveiled. Three finalists
will be at the event to see if they have the winning
key.
“One lucky person will go home with this Method
Race Wheels/Tensor Tires/Challenger Polaris XP
Turbo,” said DiGiovanni. “This is really exciting
for us to be able to do this and it adds something
special to the UTV World Championship event.”
Joey D said Laughlin is the perfect place to
host the event. The Contingency Day on Friday,
billed as the “World’s Biggest Off Road UTV Festival,”
will feature vendors from all around the industry,
a huge raffle with thousands of dollars in prizes
and even an Easter egg hunt.
“The event has a really cool vibe by being able
to put it on in a city like Laughlin,” said DiGiovanni.
“Laughlin has a really fun party atmosphere to
it. It’s like a miniature Las Vegas. It adds just
a little more to the event because people want
to come out here and race, but they also want
to vacation here. So it brings out both the racers,
as well as enthusiasts and fans who want to spend
their Easter weekend with us.”
Easter traditions will also be in full swing.
DiGiovanni’s wife, Camille, and Amy Quintero,
mother of racer, Seth Quintero, will hide nearly
1,000 Easter eggs for kids of all ages to hunt.
“We were contacted by numerous parents to do
something special for the kids attending the event,”
said DiGiovanni. “We wanted to make sure we could
carry on some of the traditions of the Easter
weekend.”
Friday’s festivities kick off at 8 a.m. with
a poker run around the race course. Every entry
in the poker run will get five tickets for a raffle
being held during Contingency at 4 p.m.
“This is a great opportunity to have a good time
and see the race course,” said DiGiovanni. “The
course is a little different this year; it’s two
miles longer. So this will also be a good chance
for racers to do a little pre running.”
Racing for the 2017 Polaris RZR UTV World Championship
powered by Monster Energy starts at 6:30 a.m.
PDT on Saturday with a motorcycle and quad race.
UTV racing starts at 10 a.m. with the desert race,
followed by youth racing and the short course
race. For information, visit www.utvworldchampionship.com
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